In the News (Fri 9 Dec 16)

The Northern Ndebele or Nrebele and the Southern Ndebele otherwise known as Amandebele.

The first group of Ndebele speakers are found in the Limpopo Province (formerly Northern Transvaal or Northern Province) of South Africa around the Towns of Mokopane[?] (Potgietersrus) and Polokwane (Pietersburg).

One of the Ndebele people's famous achievements is that they caught the Afrikaners by surprise and killed one of their leaders Piet Potgieter[?].

The South NdebeleLanguage Board was established in 1976 and its main aims were to standardise the written language by formulating spelling rules, to compile a vocabulary list for school, to promote the writing of books and to oversee the prescribing of school books.

This language is mainly spoken in Mpumalanga Province of the Republic of South Africa.

Ndebele was originally spoken in a much larger area with a concentration of speakers west of Pretoria, in the south-western parts of the Northern Province and into the centre and eastern parts of Mpumalanga Province.

Among home languages Yeyi is the main language of the north-west, Subiya of the far north, Kalanga of the north-east, Birwa/Tswapong of the far east- central, and Tswana of central and south-eastern Botswana.

The official language is English, used for all government correspondence and as the medium of instruction from post-elementary primary education upwards.

Languages of Botswana has fascinating details and (conjectured or guesstimated) statistics of numbers of speakers of languages.

This Ndebele punishment could be considered akin to the African American slavery and segregation, to the extent that both were governmental decrees, which needed further government action to be ended.

Ndebele live here." Loubser confirms that, "owing to the difficult circumstances of the Ndzundza, the paintings became an expression of both cultural resistance and continuity." White farmers, who distinctly "saw themselves as politically more powerful and culturally superior," viewed this cultural form as decorative and not harmful, thus allowed it to continue (Loubser, 1994, p.

Here, Ndebele social and aesthetic evolution has taken place without the significant "aid" of electricity, running water or numerous non-South African visitors before me. The early wall art designs and symbolic forms are derivative of the centuries old Ndebele beadwork forms and patterns (Levinsohn, 1985).

Four of South Africa's official languages are Ngunilanguages; isiZulu, isiXhosa, siSwati, and isiNdebele are spoken primarily by the Zulu, the Xhosa, the Swazi, and the Ndebele peoples, respectively.

The Ndebelelanguage, isiNdebele, is classified among the Ngunilanguages, although Sotho influences are strong enough in some areas that isiNdebele is sometimes also classified as a variant of seSotho.

Under apartheid, many Ndebele living in the northern Transvaal were assigned to the predominantly seSotho-speaking homeland of Lebowa, which consisted of several segments of land scattered across the northern Transvaal.

The three most important languages are Moore (Mossi), spoken as a first or second language by over half the population, mainly in the center of the country; Jula (a Mande variety), spoken in the west; and Fufulde (a variety of Fula), spoken in the east.

The main languages are Amharic, Oromo, Tigrinya and Somali, with Amharic as the lingua franca being spoken as a first language by approximately 28 percent of the population and as a second language by a further 40 percent.

It is estimated that 13 indigenous languages are spoken in Malawi, The 1966 population census indicated that Chichewa was the majority language, spoken as a native language by 50.2 percent of the population and as a second language by a further 25 percent.

chora.virtualave.net /afrilang1.html (10097 words)

South Africa - Ndebele(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-10)

Ndebele peoples throughout the region were forced to move several times after that, so that by the end of the nineteenth century, the Ndebele were dispersed throughout much of Natal, the Transvaal, and adjacent territory.

Under apartheid, many Ndebele living in the northern Transvaal were assigned to the predominantly seSotho-speaking homeland of Lebowa, which consisted of several segiments of land scattered across the northern Transvaal.

At that time, in addition to the estimated 800,000 Ndebele people in South Africa, nearly 1.7 million Ndebele lived in Zimbabwe, where they constituted about one-sixth of the population and were known as Matabele; about 300,000 lived in Botswana.

The traditional center of Ndebele culture (Ndebele means "Those who carry long shields") lies only 60km to the north, and Bulawayo itself exhibits a rich blend of the folklore, traditions, languages and customs of the Ndebele and Shona peoples (the two main groups in Zimbabwe today).

Ndebele, spoken mostly in the western and southwestern parts of Zimbabwe, derives from the Zululanguages.

For example, some Shona adopted the Ndebelelanguage and practice of piercing their ear lobes, while the Ndebele absorbed the Shona religious belief in a high-god, as well as various dance and music forms.

These language practitioners need training in various aspects regarding the language practice since lexicography, terminography, translation and editing (to name but a few) are practices that need highly skilled and knowledgeable practitioners.

Language practitioners, who are going to work on lexicographical or terminographical projects in future, need training as soon as possible.

It will focus on the language of penetration by the interviewer, that is, the language somebody usually uses when he/she approaches a person for an interview in search of specific information.

The Ndebele, now numbering close to 2 million, originated as a tribal following in 1823, when Mzilikazi, a general under the Zulu king Shaka, fled with a number of warriors across the Drakensberg into present-day NE South Africa.

Reinforced by other Zulu deserters, the Ndebele raided as far south as the Orange River, destroying or absorbing the surrounding tribes except for the Ngwato of Bechuanaland (now Botswana), who paid tribute.

With the suppression of a revolt in 1896 the Ndebele abandoned war and became herders and farmers.

www.bartleby.com /65/nd/Ndebele.html (228 words)

Ndebele Translation Service - English to Ndebele Translation(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-10)

You probably don't speak Ndebele yourself, so there are a few questions you'll need to consider when choosing a translation company.

Language is a living thing it develops and changes constantly.

To ensure our translators keep abreast of the language our Ndebele translators live in-county and translate into their mother tongue.

In so far as the eleven official languages are concerned, there is no doubt, both from the study, Orkins research on television viewers and the findings of Gaganakis, in her interviews with fl pupils in Johannesburg, that English predominates.

He does concede, however, that if we want to preserve the language, or the culture, or the humour, or the idiom, or the sensibility, the only way is to share, to help, and to teach (24).

Of relevance is the Gramscian distinction between the conscious and systematic philosophy of the intellectuals and that spontaneous philosophy engrained imperceptibly in language in practical activity, in the operative conceptions, and intuitions of everyday life (Gramsci, 323, 331).

Although the origins of the South African Ndebele are shrouded in mystery, they have been identified as one of the Nguni tribes.

The Ndebele are a branch of the Zulu's who split from King Shaka in the early 1820s under the leadership of Mzilikazi, a former general in Shaka's army.

The Ndebele people are well known for their artistic talent - especially with regard to their painted houses and colorful beadwork.For over a hundred years, the Ndebele have decorated the outside of their homes with designs.

LeoSam Translations's Ndebele translation teams are professional linguists performing translation from English to Ndebele and Ndebele to English for a variety of documents in various industries including:

There is also a separate language called Ndebele that is spoken primarily in Zimbabwe (but also in Botswana).

The Ndebele people have recently become famous for their colourful wall paintings and traditional garb.

Instead of establishing a number for Ndebele as a Sotholanguage in accordance with the usual standard sources, such as Ethnologue and the International Encyclopedia of Linguistics, the Decimal Classification Editorial Policy Committee is now proposing to place Ndebele within the Nguni group, following the advice of several correspondents in South Africa.

Caruso raised the question what could be done about the lack of African language skills among Africana catalogers and was wondering if African language training for catalogers could be part of a Title VI proposal.

Bastian reported that Beall had discussed the relocation and reclassification of the Ndebelelanguage in the Dewey Decimal Classification schedule at the American Libraries Association, Cataloging and Classification: Asian and African Materials (CC:AAM) meeting on Jan. 31, 1999 in Philadelphia.

The back cover says "NDEBELE (The Owner of the State)," the parenthetical phrase being apparently a translation of the book's title; googling "umthwakazi" suggests that it consists of a prefix u- and the noun Mthwakazi, now used by Ndebele nationalists as the name of the Ndebele nation (considered as independent from Zimbabwe).

When I speak Ndebele to Zulu person they understand and vice versa, the difference is mainly in pronunciation.

Moyo you have to understand that the Ndebele people from Zimbabwe are not from Zululand Mzilikazi is from Zululand not the people, the people are from the manala tribe of the South African Ndebele.

Ownby (personal communication, 1986) notes that "there are three distinct dialects of Ndebele: Northern TransvaalNdebele (on the verge of extinction), Southern TransvaalNdebele and that spoken in Zimbabwe."